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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A most loyal and devoted spouse

by Anna Belfrage

Blue hyacinths = constancy. Apt...

There is one woman in English history that I've always felt terribly sorry for. Relegated to obscurity by her gender and far more (in)famous husband, she was a person who lived and breathed, had dozens of kids, saw riches come, riches go, was abandoned by her husband and was left to pick up whatever pieces were left after he was executed for treason.

Who this
woman was? Well, she would most certainly not have responded to the name Mrs
Mortimer, no matter that she was married to Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March.
The lady in question was Jeanne (or Joan) de Geneville, an Anglo-Irish heiress who
contributed greatly to the expansion of Roger’s domains by the addition of her
dower lands.

Jeanne was
the eldest of three sisters. Her paternal grandparents only had one male heir, Jeanne’s
father, and when he died it was decided to pool the family’s resources into one
magnificent dowry, making Jeanne a most attractive bride. Her sisters were not
as lucky – I don’t suppose anyone asked them if they wanted to be shunted off to
a nunnery, but off they went so as not to dent the family’s fortune too much.

Jeanne’s
grandparents had their eyes set on a prize – a scion of one of the powerful
Marcher Lords. Of mixed Welsh and English (Norman) lineage, the Mortimers ruled
over a sizeable chunk of Wales, and as a further advantage, young Roger was of
an age with the Prince of Wales, the future Edward II. Jeanne, of course, had
no say in this matter. Her first obligation was to her family, and as they
decided she would wed.

By our
standards, both Jeanne and Roger were very young when they married in 1301.
Jeanne was fifteen, Roger was a year younger, but scarcely a year after their
wedding their first son was born. Jeanne had thereby fulfilled her second
obligation--to give Roger an heir.

Maria of Brabant's marriage, late 14th century

It seems to have been a good marriage with both
spouses reluctant to spend too much time apart. Jeanne accompanied Roger in the
field, they travelled together, inspected her lands in Ireland together, and
all this close proximity resulted in an impressive number of babies – twelve
surviving children in seventeen years. No one could fault Jeanne’s fertility
and on top of this she proved a capable manager, running Roger’s domestic affairs
with aplomb. For twenty-two years Jeanne carried out her third obligation –
that of being a good, loyal wife.

And then Roger
went and ruined it all--okay, that is a simplification. The first decades of
the fourteenth century were difficult for England. Powerful nobles clashed
repeatedly with their king and his selected favourites, there was general
unrest in the wake of Edward I, and to top things off, England was in constant
conflict with Scotland--at least until the Scots trounced the English at
Bannockburn.

Roger Mortimer
was a man of stature and responsibilities and his motivations for rising in
rebellion against Edward II were manifold and to some extent justified. Edward
II has gone down in history as a weak king, whatever his characteristics as a
person. Edward I was a hard act to follow and Edward II was simply not quite
as distinctive and forceful a ruler as his father, plus he had a tendency to shower
his favourites with land and riches, thereby galling the high nobility.

While Jeanne may not have approved of her husband's rebellion--and we will never know her thoughts on the matter--she seems to have supported him as well as she could, even if I suspect she must have been cursing him to hell in private. Her husband wasn't only risking his life and lands, he was risking hers, and even worse, he was risking the future of their children.

God's Speed

The
rebellion failed, Roger submitted to his king’s mercy and was thrown into the
Tower, there to await what everyone expected to be his imminent execution. Did Jeanne
try to contact him? See him? Did she pace her solar and wring her hands,
praying for her husband’s safe deliverance? If so, God must have been
listening, because dashing Roger escaped, evaded the hunt and made it safely to
France.

I picture Jeanne
sinking to her knees upon hearing that her husband was safe. I picture her
sinking to her knees again some months later, but now in far more squalid
surroundings. This time she did not raise her voice in a Deo gratias, this time she wept in helpless anger that her husband
should humiliate her so, that he should cavort openly with Queen Isabella while
she, his wedded wife, was languishing in captivity.

Edward II
does not seem to have been a cruel man. But upon hearing that Roger had escaped, he had taken Jeanne and the Mortimer children into custody--a harsh captivity
far removed from the comfort Jeanne was accustomed to. Her rooms were damp and
dark, there was no money for more than the basic food and clothing, and while
she paid the price for her husband’s treason, Roger was apparently lapping up
the good life in France, spending his nights with gorgeous Isabella. If I’d
been Jeanne, I’d have made a straw effigy of my faithless husband (or Queen
Isabella--yes, probably the queen) and plunged needles into the relevant parts
in revenge.

In the forefront, Isabella and Roger

The fact
that Roger was bedding another woman would not have been a novelty for Jeanne.
Men--and especially rich, handsome men--were expected to be lusty and
vigorous, their sexual transgressions no great matter. But for a married man--and a married woman--to openly live in sin, well, that was something else
entirely. Also, Isabella was the queen, Edward II’s wife, and to sleep with her
was the equivalent of high treason. By joining Isabella in bed, Roger had
thereby alienated himself permanently from his liege. Should Edward triumph,
Roger would be hanged, drawn and quartered, something I guess Roger would
prefer not to happen.

Back to
Jeanne: Three years of humiliating imprisonment ended when her husband returned
to England, defeated the king and forced his abdication on behalf of his young
son--all the while with Queen Isabella at his side. At some point, Roger met
with Jeanne, giving her a precious gift of books (which, by the way, lets us
understand that Jeanne was literate enough to enjoy reading).

“My lady.”
She whirled at the sound of his voice. Damn her heart for galloping like an
unbroken horse in her chest, damn her blood for surging up her throat, her
cheeks. Damn him, for standing there in the doorway, clad in robes of velvet,
his familiar face wearing that half-smile that always twisted her
innards into knots of pleasure.
Jeanne inhaled and pressed the palms of her hands against the contours of her
thighs. For some moments she was distracted by the pleasing green of her new
gown – or rather she kept her eyes on her skirts to avoid looking at him, the
man she wanted to hurt, to gut as he had gutted her. The man she wanted to
touch her, hold her in his arms while she wept at last, so tired of these long
years without him, of months of deprivation and fear.
“Are you well?”
He sounded solicitous, and she threw him a quick look. His smile widened, and
he shuffled on his feet, a throw-back to the very young man he’d been when they
first wed.
“Am I well?” Jeanne drew in a long, shuddering breath. “What do you think?”
“I…” He motioned for the page to set down the books on a table before jerking
his head in the direction of the door. The page disappeared with the speed of a
scalded rat. “I am so sorry.”
“Ah.” She twisted her hands into the fabric of her gown.
“Jeanie…”
“Don’t!” She held up her hand. “I would have you leave, my lord.”
“Jeanie,” he repeated, dark eyes never leaving her.
“Go,” she said, “rush back and rut some more with your royal whore.” It gladdened
her to see him pale. He remained where he was, one hand extended towards her.
Jeanne shook her head, retreating towards the window-seat. “Please… just go,
Roger.” It tore her heart out when he turned and left.

As we all
know, Roger Mortimer over-reached. Too greedy, too hungry for power, too
ostentatious… Men who grasp for the sun tend to get badly burnt, and in Roger’s
case, his days of glory were cut abruptly short when the new king had him
arrested and tried for treason. It was a travesty of a trial as Roger was gagged
to stop him from speaking in his own defence, and on one of the last days of
November, 1330, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March was drawn and
hanged at the Tyburn Tree.

The Tyburn Tree in the 17th century

As Roger’s
wife, Jeanne was implicated in Roger’s treason. More years in restricted
circumstances, more years of fearing for the future of her children, more years--I imagine--of grieving for the man she’d loved, of hating him for what he’d
reduced her to.

Six years
after his death, Jeanne had her lands restored to her, and for the remaining
twenty years of her life she lived quietly. It is said she petitioned the king
to have her husband moved from Greyfriars in London, where he first was buried,
to Wigmore Abbey. It is said the petition was granted, and Roger’s mortal
remains were brought home to rest in the lands from whence he came. I hope
Jeanne made her peace with him, maybe going as far as now and then stopping by
his grave to talk to him.

Jeanne de
Geneville died in 1356, at the age of seventy. She never remarried --I don’t
think she wanted to.

Should you want to read more about Roger and Jeanne, I recommend "The Greatest Traitor" by Ian Mortimer. Are they related? Nope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anna
Belfrage is the author of two published books, A
Rip in the Veil and Like
Chaff in the Wind. The Third book in The Graham Saga, The Prodigal Son, will be published in
the summer of 2013. Set in seventeenth century Scotland and Virginia, the books tell the story of Matthew and Alex, two people who should never have met – not when
she was born three hundred years after him.

This is a fantastic post which I've really enjoyed reading. I've been thinking a lot about Jeanne recently too and can't help wondering what she thought and felt. Did she even know that Roger was going to rebel? How did she find out about Roger and Isabella. I know that Roger brought Isabella (and young Edward III) with him to Ludlow in 1328 & that he had a new solar built to accommodate Isabella & Edward. But how did Jeanne feel about this, how did she and Isabella get on, how did Roger handle it, how did his children handle it etc, etc. I'm sure there's a book here too :)

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